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Share this Story: Iain MacIntyre: Lions' leader of the pack, Phillips embraces return of Wally's world

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KAMLOOPS — There are things veteran defensive back Ryan Phillips thought he’d never see from B.C. Lions head coach Wally Buono, like hip-hop and dance music blaring from loudspeakers at Hillside Stadium during warmups at training camp.

And while the stoic Buono, 66, hasn’t yet uncrossed his arms and busted a move, veteran quarterback Travis Lulay — we can never remember which Hardy Boy he is supposed to be — has been rocking out, head dancing while stretching his quads and hammies.

“There’s things taking place that have never taken place before,” Phillips said Wednesday. “If you would have asked me in 2007 or 2008 about music for warmups, I’d have said: ‘No way in the world.’ I never thought in a million years that we’d see Wally doing that. He’s starting to warm up a little bit, but that’s not a sign of softness. He’s just adapting to the new player culture, adapting to the new age.”

Meetings have intermissions, so young players whose idea of literature is 140 characters on Twitter can check their phones and move around. There is more visual learning. The playbook is an iPad.

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“You have to have different teaching ways to teach guys,” Phillips, an actual substitute teacher in the Seattle area during the off-season, explained. “Whether that’s shorter meetings or having more walk-throughs on the field — having a visual learning — those are things we have to adapt to with the new age. Wally’s trying to make sure he’s using every avenue to reach every player in the locker room. And then after that, the rest is up to us.”

The Lions passed the halfway point of training camp here Wednesday, which means these are officially the dog days of June.

So it seemed an opportune time to visit with Phillips, the leader of the pack, a 33-year-old about to begin his 12th Canadian Football League season — all of them in B.C.

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Buono was his coach the first seven seasons, and Phillips is the only Lion remaining from the teams that won Grey Cups under Buono in 2006 and 2011.

Buono “retired” from coaching and was the team’s general manager the last four seasons, three of them coached by Mike Benevides before Jeff Tedford’s disastrous 7-11 campaign in 2015.

Five years removed from the sideline, Buono reappointed himself head coach when Tedford agreed to have his contract terminated. It is natural to wonder whether someone as old school as Buono, who got into football shortly after facemasks did, can connect with players too young to remember him coaching.

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Ironically, Phillips said, it’s Buono’s old-school, no-nonsense sensibilities that make him the right coach to halt the steady erosion of the Lions over the last four years.

“Every coach is different,” Phillips said. “You’ve got some coaches that are more players-type coaches. And then you have guys who are more disciplinarians, and they might be stuck in their own ways and everybody has to adapt to them. I feel like Wally gets that good balance.

“I feel discipline (the lack of it) has definitely been a factor for us the last few years. Everybody knows what Wally stands for and I feel that’s a big part of his coaching style that we need, especially with the younger guys, to re-establish what discipline is and understand what accountability is and what the standard is for this organization.

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“You can’t blame everything on that last year. But from a discipline standpoint, I don’t feel everybody was held accountable for the things that we needed to make this team go.

“Laziness, knowing assignments, even just coming on time (to practices and meetings) and making sure you’re holding up your end of the bargain. The team expects you to do whatever your role is and hold yourself to the highest standard, and I don’t feel that was always taking place. That goes for everybody, including myself. I feel that’s definitely not something we have to worry about this season with Wally.”

Ryan Phillips is the only B.C. Lionsâ holdover from their 2006 and 2011 Grey Cup championship teams.B.C. LIONS

Tedford hadn’t coached in the CFL since 1992 and had little experience since then working with professionals when Buono hired him before last season.

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But it wasn’t like Tedford was a slacker or naive; he just didn’t command the same respect from players as Buono. And a key reason for that is Buono is not only their coach, but the guy who pays them and can fire them.

“You have to have the right approach on the field and off the field, and since Wally runs both of those shows, you definitely have to be more aware how you approach the game every single day,” Phillips said. “(Younger players are) seeing the type of guy he is as far as keeping a high standard and knowing that it’s black or white — either you’re getting it done or you’re not. I feel it brings a sense or urgency from guys, and I feel that was something lacking these last few years.”

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So Wally 2.0 is the unchanged from the previous version?

“I feel like he has changed some,” Phillips said. “Your coaching style has to evolve because players change all the time. The one thing that hasn’t changed is his disciplinary style. He’s Wally — he wants things done his way and done to a certain standard and he makes sure everybody is upholding that standard all the time.”

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